Giant MMA Robot vs. Monster Smackdown. Fantastic. But...

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2013)

Yes, this movie has certainly raised the bar on "Monster Movies". A definite leap forward from the "the guy in the rubber suit" days. I give this movie 9 out of 10 for the imagination and special effects that dazzled throughout. The fights were the thing, though. Incredible. Especially the one where the American guy and the Japanese girl take on the flying whatchamacallit in outer space. But,I take away one star. Why? It is because the magic and wonder of the early cheesy "Monster flicks" (the Japanese ones, the Korean one, Harry Hausen's creations) was not there. I, for one, think it wouldn't have been so bad if this was a joint American-Japanese production (Del Toro also being there to see that things didn't become cheesy). The old magic and wonder is missing. I was somewhat disappointed to see that the monsters could be killed by conventional arms (although you would need a lot of them) and that "nukes" could definitely take them out. How would these monsters fare against "Mothra", "Rodan" and especially "Godzilla"?But, see the movie, it's fun.